Chase history tells us true contenders rarely fall far out of range of the lead, and #5-Mark Martin and #48-Jimmie Johnson have certainly set a blistering pace over the first two races. Only #42-Juan Pablo Montoya (-65) and #2-Kurt Busch (-75) have managed to stay within 100 points of the lead in the first 20% of Chase VI. Plenty can happen but Johnson just posted his 28th consecutive Top 15 finish in a Chase event, 8th win and 19th Top 5 over the same 28 races. Montoya continued his breakthrough season at Dover by finishing fourth and climbing one spot to third in the Chase standings. JPM only has four Top 5s this season, but half of them have come in the first two Chase races. #14-Tony Stewart stayed in reasonable Chase contention with a 9th at Dover, but he needs to start stacking up Top 5s to get into range of the lead. Stewart leads the series with 13 Top 5s this season. See year-by-year comparison, race-by-race, notes and more on my Chase Stats after Dover page and the Chase rules, how the Chase would had worked out back to 1975 and history on my 2009 Chase Rules and Notes page.(10-2-2009)
